Happy Wednesday!
I knew it’d be impossible to have a week dedicated to movies set in NYC 🗽🏙 without a recommendation dedicated to Martin Scorsese. That’s why for day 3, we’re talking about an underrated Scorsese classic that follows a man just trying to make it in the big city, like everyone else.
The King of Comedy
STREAMING ON PRIME VIDEO
What’s it about: Like so many people in New York City, Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro) is a man with a dream. His dream is to be a famous stand up comedian and be recognized by his hero Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis playing a version of himself). However, when his plan to get on Langford’s radar backfires, he resorts to more twisted measures.
Why it’s great: I had a hard time picking between Taxi Driver — Scorsese’s seminal New York movie — and The King of Comedy. And while the former is an essential piece of cinema, it’s more well-known and we’re going to be talking about another crime movie later this week. So, I revisited The King of Comedy. And honestly, I always considered it a second-tier Scorsese, but then I took a closer look.
For a movie about a failed standup comedian, it’s difficult to watch. Rupert’s delusions of success are funny at first, but then grow cringe-worthy — and then dangerous. But there’s a third act pivot that makes this one of my favorite Scorsese movies. It’s so subtle but brilliant. It changes our perception of the characters and their motivations and makes us question who we were rooting for all along.
The key players:
🎬 Martin Scorsese
🖋 Paul D. Zimmerman
🎵 Robbie Robertson
🎭 Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Tony Randall, Diahnne Abbott, Sandra Bernhard
The details: ⏳ 109 minutes // 🇺🇸 U.S. // 📝 My full review // 📺 Trailer
Fun fact: The Clash, one of Martin Scorsese’s favorite bands, has a cameo in the movie.
Don’t have Prime Video? The King of Comedy is available to buy or rent on Prime Video, iTunes, and Google Play.
In movie news:
🎈 You’ll float too. It: Chapter Two is eyeing a massive $200 million+ worldwide opening, which would blow the first installment’s $189.7 million start out of the water.
My take: If you take a closer look at the numbers, the overseas take of the sequel should surpass the domestic take. It highlights the increasing importance of the international box office — just look at Avengers: Endgame. It also shows that in the ever competitive box office landscape, bet on horror.
⚖️ Here is the first trailer for Destin Daniel Cretton’s Just Mercy starring Michael B. Jordan and Oscar winners Jamie Foxx and Brie Larson — Jordan should at the very least be an Oscar nominee by now.
My take: Cretton’s Short Term 12 is one of my favorite movies of the decade and he will be directing the first Asian-led Marvel movie, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, for 2021. However, this trailer makes the movie look like fluffy Oscar-bait. Let’s hope I’m wrong.
Thank you for being here! I hope you’re enjoying reading the newsletter as much as I am writing it.
See you tomorrow,
Karl (@karl_delo)